General Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2024)

[John_Havok]

Cali came to mind

 

I don't do politics.

 

Religion on the other hand....

[jaysblue]

The team dramatically altered their overall MLB team strategy in the 2022 offseason. It immediately led to the offensively challenged squad of the last two seasons. Much of this was due to unexpected performances of the holdover players vs those that were brought into the organization, but I don't think Atkins should be the person receiving all of the blame for the overall course the organization took while the VP in charge of overall strategy gets a complete pass and even a promotion.

 

It's all Raimel Tapia's fault!

[max silver]

It's all Raimel Tapia's fault!

 

I blame the manager who utilized Tapia when he had Jackie Bradley Jr. available off of the bench.

[jaysblue]

I blame the manager who utilized Tapia when he had Jackie Bradley Jr. available off of the bench.

 

Yeah geez don't remind me. Was at Game 2 and still can't believe the Jays ended up losing the way they did.

 

Should have been a Game 3 in that Wildcard series.

[max silver]

Yeah geez don't remind me. Was at Game 2 and still can't believe the Jays ended up losing the way they did.

 

Should have been a Game 3 in that Wildcard series.

 

That loss came with a serving of bad decisions by the manager (leaving Tapia in the game and allowing Mayza to face Santana) and a serving of downright bad luck as the Mariner's largely babip'd there way to an improbable victory with the Springer/Bo collision being the icing on the cake.

[Stangstag]

I blame the manager who utilized Tapia when he had Jackie Bradley Jr. available off of the bench.

 

Imagine having a great defensive OF on the bench, being up by 7 runs, your starting LF gets hit in the head, and you STILL don’t get him into the game.

 

Absolutely lunacy by JS and he should have been fired on the spot after that loss.

[Barrelsandbombs]

Will Wagner is getting called up tomorrow. Luis De Los Santos back to Buffalo.

 

[Stangstag]

Wow that was quick

[Brownie19]

Wow that was quick

 

He's already 26. Time to figure out what he is!

[The_DH]

I'm guessing they will effectively platoon Wagner with Jimenez with Clement moving between ss and 3b? Not the worst move.

[wilko]

Big Willy Style!

[Jonn]

Will Wagner is getting called up tomorrow. Luis De Los Santos back to Buffalo.

 

 

 

De Los Santos should be thrilled he even got to spend a week in the big leagues. Literally nothing about his track record suggested he was worthy of a promotion. I don’t think many of us even knew who he was until he was selected.

[Brownie19]

I agree with Jonn. Los Santos was given a few token games by the Blue Jays. He got a couple of hits and can say he fulfilled his childhood dreams. It was a nice gesture from the Blue Jays, but now it's time to see what some of the real prospects are able to do.

[John_Havok]

I agree with Jonn. Los Santos was given a few token games by the Blue Jays. He got a couple of hits and can say he fulfilled his childhood dreams. It was a nice gesture from the Blue Jays, but now it's time to see what some of the real prospects are able to do.

 

Some great comments from the mouth breathing section of other sports outlets:

 

"Oh sure, send down a player who actually has some hits."

 

"What a joke, first hit and it's goodbye to Buffalo? Fire Schneider."

 

It gets worse from there. Apparently, Los Santos was the second coming of Mike Trout. I always love checking the comments just to feel better that despite this board's issues, the general baseball knowledge here is so far above the casual fan its astounding.

[wilko]

Some great comments from the mouth breathing section of other sports outlets:

 

"Oh sure, send down a player who actually has some hits."

 

"What a joke, first hit and it's goodbye to Buffalo? Fire Schneider."

 

It gets worse from there. Apparently, Los Santos was the second coming of Mike Trout. I always love checking the comments just to feel better that despite this board's issues, the general baseball knowledge here is so far above the casual fan its astounding.

 

Reddit? SportsNet Site?

[Brownie19]

Some great comments from the mouth breathing section of other sports outlets:

 

"Oh sure, send down a player who actually has some hits."

 

"What a joke, first hit and it's goodbye to Buffalo? Fire Schneider."

 

It gets worse from there. Apparently, Los Santos was the second coming of Mike Trout. I always love checking the comments just to feel better that despite this board's issues, the general baseball knowledge here is so far above the casual fan its astounding.

 

It is alarming how stupid most fans are. This board is still incredible for real baseball talk - even if there are a few challenging members.

[Stangstag]

It is alarming how stupid most fans are. This board is still incredible for real baseball talk - even if there are a few challenging members.

 

I find it hilarious that some of these derps think Schneider decides who gets sent down and called up lol.

[connorp]

It is alarming how stupid most fans are. This board is still incredible for real baseball talk - even if there are a few challenging members.

 

It’s like a 10 person circle jerk.

 

There is that one sharp dude that passed off the Kumar Rocker stock tip. 11ip at AA- 0 er 16/1 K/BB. About to rise the rankings like a meteor.

[Laika]

I hope you all like platoons because the 2025 Toronto Blue Jays could get weird with it.

 

CF - Varsho - might be lightly platooned depending on performance, but his defense will keep him in there most of the time. Clase the backup.

C - Kirk - won't be platooned but will split time with some other C

LF - Loperfido/Schneider/Clase

2B - Wagner/Schneider/Horwitz

DH - Horwitz/Schneider

3B - Clement/Barger

[Brownie19]

I hope you all like platoons because the 2025 Toronto Blue Jays could get weird with it.

 

CF - Varsho - might be lightly platooned depending on performance, but his defense will keep him in there most of the time. Clase the backup.

C - Kirk - won't be platooned but will split time with some other C

LF - Loperfido/Schneider/Clase

2B - Wagner/Schneider/Horwitz

DH - Horwitz/Schneider

3B - Clement/Barger

 

To be honest - I'm good with all of this. I don't think we're actually going to compete next year (although I think the team will provide that illusion, with some small % chance of everything going our way). I'm excited to see what these younger players can become. Let's see what we've got.

[mphenhef]

anybody else throw up a little bit reading this?

[Laika]

anybody else throw up a little bit reading this?

 

it's pretty gross

 

ideally they bring in 2 big bats that can just be full time starters at a couple of those positions. push some of the young players to bench roles and not platoon roles.

 

LF is the biggest concern for me. After LF, I think they could add at 3B and/or DH. A bit of flexibility on where to add. Sort of depends on how the incumbent pieces fit best as well. I feel like they are solid at 2B for example.

 

rest of season projections by positional depth chart on Fangraphs

 

LF - 0.3 WAR (rank 27)

3B - 0.6 WAR (rank 22)

DH - 0.3 WAR (rank 21)

2B - 0.7 WAR (rank 15)

SS - rank 19 (includes 118 PA from Bo, though)

C - rank 11

RF - rank 11

CF - rank 6

1B - rank 3

[Laika]

Chad Green putting together a weird year

 

Stuff+ says he is back to 2022 form, ERA agrees

 

But his whiff rate has not returned so his FIP/xFIP are replacement level

[glory]

I hope you all like platoons because the 2025 Toronto Blue Jays could get weird with it.

 

CF - Varsho - might be lightly platooned depending on performance, but his defense will keep him in there most of the time. Clase the backup.

C - Kirk - won't be platooned but will split time with some other C

LF - Loperfido/Schneider/Clase

2B - Wagner/Schneider/Horwitz

DH - Horwitz/Schneider

3B - Clement/Barger

 

I also threw up a bit reading this but I don’t think there’s any chance they actually go through with a young lineup in 2025. Maybe if they are out of it in July, but definitely not to start the season. Only young player I see having an everyday role on the 2025 team is probably Horwitz, and possibly Wagner given that he’s 35 years old already. Jimenez is out of options so he’s either a bench piece or traded. My guess is they are either going to go for a home run signing, or more likely “spread the risk” with some mid tier guys like Santander. Given how much Shatkins loves depth, it wouldn’t surprise me if everyone who has options start in AAA.

[The_DH]

it's pretty gross

 

ideally they bring in 2 big bats that can just be full time starters at a couple of those positions. push some of the young players to bench roles and not platoon roles.

 

LF is the biggest concern for me. After LF, I think they could add at 3B and/or DH. A bit of flexibility on where to add. Sort of depends on how the incumbent pieces fit best as well. I feel like they are solid at 2B for example.

 

rest of season projections by positional depth chart on Fangraphs

 

LF - 0.3 WAR (rank 27)

3B - 0.6 WAR (rank 22)

DH - 0.3 WAR (rank 21)

2B - 0.7 WAR (rank 15)

SS - rank 19 (includes 118 PA from Bo, though)

C - rank 11

RF - rank 11

CF - rank 6

1B - rank 3

 

Thanks for the analysis, it's pretty much what I thought was the case. Looks like LF and DH would be the cheapest fixes. Won't be a lot of 3b who are good and cheap. We'd probably have enough okay and cheap candidates to be useful going forward at 3b and 2b.

[Brownie19]

I also threw up a bit reading this but I don’t think there’s any chance they actually go through with a young lineup in 2025. Maybe if they are out of it in July, but definitely not to start the season. Only young player I see having an everyday role on the 2025 team is probably Horwitz, and possibly Wagner given that he’s 35 years old already. Jimenez is out of options so he’s either a bench piece or traded. My guess is they are either going to go for a home run signing, or more likely “spread the risk” with some mid tier guys like Santander. Given how much Shatkins loves depth, it wouldn’t surprise me if everyone who has options start in AAA.

 

Good point about Leo. Have to imagine he's on our bench next year unless Bo or Leo are traded.

[Terminator]

I hope you all like platoons because the 2025 Toronto Blue Jays could get weird with it.

 

CF - Varsho - might be lightly platooned depending on performance, but his defense will keep him in there most of the time. Clase the backup.

C - Kirk - won't be platooned but will split time with some other C

LF - Loperfido/Schneider/Clase

2B - Wagner/Schneider/Horwitz

DH - Horwitz/Schneider

3B - Clement/Barger

 

 

The playoffs will not be easy to make

[BTS]

I think I might be more concerned about the pitching than the lineup, as far as the biggest hurdles to competing in 2025. There are a lot of interesting/useful pieces for the lineup. A few smart additions could make it decent, in similar ways to the way the Rays/As/Giants have pieced together boring but slightly above average lineups in recent years.

 

The Jays have three pitchers who are locked into rotation spots next year, and they might not be good at all:

 

Gausman's stuff has backed up to the point where it's below average (95 Stuff+), and he has an xERA over 5 in a full season of work so far.

Berrios has been throwing slop all year, and looks like a fringe MLB starter.

 

And then Bassitt is Bassitt. Lock in the 2-3 WAR, because he is a machine.

[connorp]

Chad Green putting together a weird year

 

Stuff+ says he is back to 2022 form, ERA agrees

 

But his whiff rate has not returned so his FIP/xFIP are replacement level

 

Who cares really. Going to be 34 next year. Not competing this year or next in all likelihood. I was always a pro CG signing, but that was assuming they’d at least be a WC3 team. At least they’re on the hook for $10m next year, as they likely wouldn’t spend it anyway and they don’t deserve that bottom line money

[Terminator]

I think I might be more concerned about the pitching than the lineup, as far as the biggest hurdles to competing in 2025. There are a lot of interesting/useful pieces for the lineup. A few smart additions could make it decent, in similar ways to the way the Rays/As/Giants have pieced together boring but slightly above average lineups in recent years.

 

The Jays have three pitchers who are locked into rotation spots next year, and they might not be good at all:

 

Gausman's stuff has backed up to the point where it's below average (95 Stuff+), and he has an xERA over 5 in a full season of work so far.

Berrios has been throwing slop all year, and looks like a fringe MLB starter.

 

And then Bassitt is Bassitt. Lock in the 2-3 WAR, because he is a machine.

 

Yeah the lineup should be okay with a couple of decent additions. The problem is the rotation also needs a couple of decent additions and it's not like the team is strong enough to where all of these adds can be modest 1.5 WAR guys. A couple of them need to be 3+ WAR. And then the bullpen needs a complete overhaul and we need a good backup C too.

 

That's all doable if the team spends big this offseason. But the end result for 2025 is an old, expensive wild card contender without a whole lot in the minor league system. And the one thing we do have, a big payroll with lots of flexibility moving forward, is going to be gone with all these FA additions and possible a Vlad extension too.